The Island is an opportunity wasted, in an ocean of talent and opportunity

Rating: 5/10 (11 August 2005)

For a dedicated sci-fi fan, The Island is necessary nourishment. But what is there for a wider audience? Ewan McGregor starts questioning his environment, the general belief that everyone he sees on a day to day basis has been saved from a contaminated planet, that they are the 'lucky' ones being prepared to go to the Island, an uncontaminated last haven, where they will start a new Eden. His friend Scarlett Johansson is less questioning but is good at recognising lying in his facial expression. The truth gradually unfolds, interspersed with several high speed chases and reasonably convincing future landscapes.What turns out to be a decent plot is made overlong, and as there is so little time to build detail into a fairly mammoth story, it is easy to lose interest. Lame direction (from the guy who brought us Pearl Harbor) and pedestrian acting doesn't help matters, however inventive some of the explosions. Steve Buscemi almost rescues things as the hapless engineer bridging two worlds, but Johansson is cast well below her abilities and McGregor - instead of stretching his acting talents - stretches nothing more than his good looks to play himself yet again. The 2hrs+ finds plenty of room to squeeze in plot holes and clichés, but in a sea of talent and opportunities, The Island remains, sadly, an opportunity wasted.